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Runelords 05.0 - Massacre at the Glassworks
After reading the note found by the housekeeper and calming her down, Virgil relayed orders to the other three: it was important that they keep a low profile and ensure that they neither broke the law nor panicked the town. To that end, Virgil and Eamon would go to the mayor, informing her of the situation and getting permission to enter the glassworks to look for Ameiko. Meanwhile, Khyrralien and Luna would wait at the inn for a short while before heading out themselves, meeting up outside the glassworks. They all agreed, and went about their tasks. Virgil and Eamon left straight away. As they walked, Virgil stressed the importance of keeping Luna away from anything not only particularly dangerous, but also any scene where one of them might have to do something morally questionable to get information regarding the attacks or for reparations for Ameiko. Eamon agreed, accepting his role as the one to shelter Luna, as he likely had more of her trust in his moral calibur than Virgil did. They also discussed the relative merits of sneaking in versus going to the front door and announcing their entrance: sneaking might be frowned upon by police if they were found out and persecuted for trespassing, but announcing themselves might allow Lonjiku, or whomever was coordinating the misdeeds, a chance to hide the evidence of their crimes. When they arrived at the mayor's office, it was still closed. They considered going to her house, but it was on the cape outside of town and would take a while to get there. They waited a short while longer, until her assistant arrived and unlocked the door. Despite the assistant's assertations that she would be there within the hour and wasn't likely to be long, they decided that time was of the essence. They wrote her a note, explaining the situation as they knew it, and left it sealed in the assistant's care. With that, they made the short trip over to the glassworks. Khyrralien and Luna beat the other two, as they were waiting for the mayor. The glassworks was a large, warehouse-like building with a few rooms separated for offices, and large, beautiful stained glass windows and skylights all along its walls, showcasing its product. Curtains had been drawn along all of the side windows, however, blocking prying eyes from seeing the interior; black smoke emanated from chimneys, signalling that the furnaces were running. Luna suggested that they go in the front and see what the building was like on the inside, since there seemed to be a public storefront, and it wasn't like Khyrralien hadn't been attracted to shiny objects before. However, they found both front entrances locked securely. It was as they stood stymied by the locks that Eamon and Virgil joined them. Making sure that they weren't attracting attention, they moved around to the back of the building, to the supply entrance. It too was sealed, and the lock proved too difficult for Luna's mechanical knack to break. Virgil tried the secret knock that had been mentioned in Tsuto's note, and when that failed, each of the men attempted to force the door open, to no success. Frustrated and feeling pressured for time, they decided to break one of the nearby windows, climb in, and go from there. Khyrralien, in an ill-advised move, tried to bodily charge the glass, but instead only hurt himself. Shaking his head, Eamon broke the glass with his sword, allowing Khyrralien to push through the rough entryway. Inside, he found himself in a large work room, dominated by large marble tables and raging furnaces. However, this was anything but a pleasant workspace. Broken glass littered the floor, shards mingled with broken tools and human body parts. A horrific shrine had been erected in the room's center: a man had been sat in a chair and molten glass poured over him, his screaming, scorched form now preserved in a macabre statue surrounded by shattered debris and the remains of eviscerated humans. Goblins loitered about the room, the undoubted progenitors of the carnage, and they began to scream and jeer as their eight pairs of eyes moved to Khyrralien, expressions switching immediately from boredom to chaotic delight at the new development. The fey called out cheerily to his teammates, prompting Eamon to rush inside. As Virgil leaned in and saw how outnumbered they all were, he urged them to pull back so they could have a better vantage. Sustaining wounds from knives and broken bottles, the two crawled back outside; however, no sooner had Khyrralien climbed out when he was jumped and dogpiled by four goblins, who began to pull him back inside with extreme efficiency. Unable to get a decent vantage and hoping to draw some of the enemies away, Eamon and Luna went to another window. The angel broke it with a single swing of his blade, and Luna tossed a bomb through the opening, though the narrow opening meant that she didn't throw true. Eamon widened the entrance bodily, rushing inside to help Khyrralien, who was more than too close for comfort to a furnace, the flames licking the tips of his antlers. Eamon's rage began to take over, and blinking orange eyes appeared on the feathers of his wings as he ripped off the shirt that contained them, flying over the obstacles between him and his foes. Virgil struggled against the goblins, but managed to pull Khyr a safe distance away from the fire. Luna climbed inside as well, but was distracted by the absolutely horrific scene before her. Eamon continued to change subtly as his rage grew, a spinning tri-halo whirling around his head as an otherworldly orange glow seemed to suffuse his features. When the majority of their comrades had fallen, the remaining two goblins scattered; Luna was sent chasing after one that had left the room, while Eamon and Virgil dashed after the other. The two groups were successful in stopping the fleeing targets, Luna's bomb felling the one before it could turn a corner in the hall while Eamon's sword stopped the other. Luna pulled the goblin back into the workroom as Eamon calmed and the adventurers regrouped. Now that the commotion had died, it was easy to see what unfortunate person had met their end under layers of molten glass: Lonjiku Kaijitsu. Judging by the body parts that lined the floor, he was not the only one by far to have died the previous night. Luna was still obviously affected by the sight of the macabre spectacle, so Virgil and Eamon hurried her out, though Khyrralien lingered, looking for clues or anything of note regarding what had happened, or what had become of Ameiko. Unfortunately, it appeared as though the goblins had mangled most everything, and had tossed no small amount of glass, tools and body parts into the fires of the furnaces. He still managed to estimate that ten or so people had met their ends, and not likely in that room, based on the lack of blood. The group moved from door to door, investigating the glassworks. The employee kitchen and food storage rooms had been thoroughly ransacked, with nearly everything edible demolished; the bunk room spoke a bloody tale of glassworkers murdered violently in their sleep. However, nothing else seemed to be disturbed. They unlocked the front entrance and, when they were satisfied that the main floor was secure, they moved down the stairs into the basement. The stairs opened into a wide hall that appeared to be used for storage of sand and minerals; two corridors split off on the left, one after the other. The first looked like it had once been bricked off, but had been broken through; the second led to a pair of rooms on the right and ended with another freshly-broken brick barricade. The first door was nothing but an empty storage room, but upon opening the second door, they found Ameiko, bound, unconscious and brutally beaten. None of the group had any skill in the way of first aid and couldn't tell how bad the woman's injuries were, so they opted to get her to help immediately. Luna offered to take her out to get assistance, and Eamon insisted that he join her, as it still might not be safe. The two gingerly collected Ameiko and left. Virgil and Khyrralien continued their investigation. The room Ameiko had been in was nothing more than an empty storage room as well, so they moved on. The hall, past the barricade, turned to the left, and revealed another pair of rooms on their right. In the corner, they could see a dug tunnel that led away from the building, and a quick glance around revealed that this hall connected to the first, making a square around four solid walls. Shrugging and postulating that there might be some sort of hidden room, as it wasn't often that people built hallways and left large wasted space between them, the pair decided to simultaneously open the two uninvestigated rooms. Virgil's was empty, but Khyrralien's was a small, barren bedroom, occupied by an Arroyitan man who looked both half-elven and drunk. Khyrralien found his introductions cut short: before he could say much of anything, the man lept upon him in a fury and began punching him with lethal skill. Stunned by the power of the man's strikes, the fey could do nothing as Tsuto 'killed' him, sending him back to Etheria and leaving nothing but a pile of clothes and a bow where he had recently stood. His foe's sudden disappearance gave Tsuto pause, and Virgil attempted to talk to him, saying that they had come to help Ameiko and weren't there to fight. At the mention of his sister's safety, and Virgil's mention that she had been taken to get medical care, Tsuto lashed out again. Once more, there was little that Virgil could do, stunned as he was by the ferocity of the blows that struck him. As a last ditch effort, he attempted to cast Charm Person, but Tsuto shrugged it off with little regard as Virgil blacked out as well. Luna and Eamon, unsure about how safe it was in the basement, stopped a passerby on the street and asked them to take Ameiko to the church for attention. This caused a stir, but the two only poorly explained the situation: there had been a goblin attack in the glassworks, they had taken care of the offenders; the guard should be alerted and no one should enter. Satisfied, the pair returned to the basement. Luna called out to Virgil, but received no response, unsettling her. When they made their way to the far hallway, they found Khyrralien's clothes in a pile on the floor, but no other trace of the two men. Eamon collected up the clothes, both assuming silently what had happened. The pair, finding all the rooms empty, began to walk down the tunnel, assuming that anyone would have had to either snuck out the back entrance to the glassworks, meaning they would be quickly spotted by townsfolk, or would have needed to pass down this way. The tunnel branched a few times: one lead to a dead end, the other to a blockage caused by roof collapse. The third tunnel stretched onwards; Eamon and Luna walked down it, a tangible feeling of dread and oppression beginning to fall over them. This gave them pause, and they decided that, whatever lay down this path, it was unlikely that they could deal with it without Virgil and Khyrralien. Turning around quickly, they hustled back towards the glassworks basement, a feeling of relief washing over them as they did. When they made to enter the hallway proper again, Luna spotted something that had been dropped behind a rock: a small leather-bound book. Picking it up, she flipped through it to find a collection of hand-written notes and maps of Sandpoint, plans that were quickly recognized as the attack on the Swallowtail Festival as well as numerous other plans that hadn't yet occurred. They pointed towards an attack that was yet to come: a full-blown invasion of Sandpoint with a goblin army of 200, aimed on setting the town and everyone in it ablaze. A few names were mentioned, likely goblins, as being co-conspirators and leaders of the forces; these included Bruthazmus, the bugbear that Shalelu had mentioned. Interspersed with these dark tidings were lewd doodles of a long-haired woman in erotic poses, some of which begged for Tsuto, undoubtedly naming the book's owner. Frowning, the two made to leave. As they went to leave, Luna explained that it was vital that they get Virgil and Khyrralien resummoned before people noticed that they were missing: they couldn't very well tell people what they really were, and explaining their sudden disappearance would be difficult. They decided to try and sneak out the back door once more, make their way down the beach unseen and hopefully fly back up the side of the cliff near the lighthouse, enabling them to get to Quint's house without detection. They made their way out without a hitch, but unfortunately, as they were nearing the lighthouse, they saw a woman running up the beach after them, effectively ruining their plan. It was Katrine Vinder; she explained while she was trying to catch her breath that the town was in a tizzy, wondering what was going on. The guards had blocked off the glassworks and the mayor was waiting to hear from them, so that everyone could know what was happening and if it was safe. Luna and Eamon tried to give an explanation, but it was obvious that they were not giving the whole story, and were not good at hiding that fact. Katrine urged them for a better explanation, but they had nothing to give as they turned back the way they had come: the only way into town on foot from the beach they were on was to take the path behind the glassworks, putting them right back where they started. When Katrine pressed them as to why they were out here, and as to the location of the other two, they tried to explain that they had come out on the beach looking for Virgil and Khyrralien, who had gone down a tunnel and gotten separated from them, and were currently missing. This made the woman blanch somewhat, and she asked whether she should tell her sister this. Luna frowned at the implication of Shadliss' concern, and assured her that Virgil was certainly alright, and not to worry anyone. When they returned to the glassworks, escorted as they were by Katrine, they walked around towards the front and were immediately surrounded by a gathered crowd of nervous and inquisitive townsfolk. The mayor approached them straight away, asking for an explanation. Luna ducked away, edging through the crowd and ignoring their requests for information, telling them only that she was going to look for a tunnel, where the other two had disappeared. Of course, this did nothing but agitate the crowd further, who turned back towards the mayor and Eamon, the sole representative. Eamon took the mayor and two guards inside, showing them the devastation and giving a somewhat oblique explanation of the events. It was obvious that the pair were having a difficult time communicating, owing to Eamon's lack of skill at wordplay and experience with talking to civilians; the mayor's requests for clearer details were met with what amounted to muddled denials, as he needed to "continue his investigation" despite the professed lack of danger, and how he needed to "get assistance from a contact in town", though he refused to admit who they were or what they were needed for. Eventually, the mayor resigned herself to the grim task of announcing the news, settling the town and getting the mess cleaned up. Glad to be free, Eamon ran off to join Luna, who had made her way unobtrusively to Quint's house. When she arrived, she was obviously in a state of extreme stress, not that Quint could assist her much with that. She asked him to resummon Virgil and Khyrralien; he shrugged and said that it seemed rather silly to do it again, now that he knew that the spell worked, prompting her to explain that it was to stop who or whatever was murdering people and raising goblin armies to burn down the town. The mention of tunnels beneath the glassworks piqued his curiosity immediately, and he asked whether they connected to the lighthouse; Luna sighed that, if he summoned Virgil again, she was certain he'd find out for him. Quint eventually agreed to call the pair again, though it seemed it was more of a goodwill gesture to calm her than anything else. Eamon arrived as he prepared the ritual, and after about an hour, the spell was cast once more. Khyrralien, upon his desummons, found himself back at his home: a forested glade decorated with lush pillows, curtains, rugs and other rich, aesthetic delights. He immediately availed himself of his collection of psychotropic fungi, and whiled away what might have been days strumming his sitar while lying naked in his domain, entranced by hallucinations. It was like this that he found himself summoned once more. Virgil, however, barely had time to register that he was in his room in his father's manor before the summons called him back to the Materian plane. The two extraplanars were both standing in Quint's room once again. The wizard excitedly explained to Luna that he had made some improvements, which the summons all admitted to feeling: they were still lacking their personal belongings and significantly weakened, but maybe slightly less harshly than before. However, the best change was that he had reversed the targets of the spell with a clever little twist of words that he had thought of after speaking to Luna. He had managed to reverse the concept of payment: instead of him paying the summons for duty, the summons owed him. He politely explained that he would like artifacts of historical note, or perhaps escort to archaeological sites. Khyrralien groused at the man for his incompetence at summoning, but both readily agreed to find things of interest for him. After Khyrralien reclothed himself, the four thanked Quint and set out towards the church to speak to Ameiko. As they walked, they caught each other up on what they knew: about the tunnel, the book, and Tsuto's violent aggression. They agreed to tell a story about how Virgil and Khyrralien had gotten trapped in the tunnels and had ended up in the woods outside, which owed to their disappearance and reappearance near the church. Satisfied with that for the moment, they entered the church; Luna and Virgil decided to go into the infirmary while the other two waited in the hall, not wanting to overtax the woman. She was woozy and tired, though her wounds had been dressed and partially healed with magic. She mentioned that she had met with her brother, but that he had let the goblins into town, and he had a terrible plan for them. She wouldn't leave with him, though, and wouldn't let the town be destroyed; she had been jumped by the pack of goblins, and that was all she remembered. She said that her father wasn't safe and needed help too, leaving it up to Virgil to gently explain that her father was already dead at Tsuto's hands. Luna mentioned the book, and Ameiko confirmed that it was Tsuto's handwriting. She pointed out a particularly dark passage in the back that Luna hadn't happened to flip to, before falling back asleep. The pair let her be, and showed the passage to the other two in the hallway. It made several things clear: the woman depicted in Tsuto's drawings and the object of his affections was none other than the woman who had been thought dead in the church fire five years ago. She was the one at the heart of the recent orchestrated attacks on Sandpoint: she had already sacrificed the stolen remains of her father at a place called Thistletop Shrine to some Infernal entity, with the goal of channeling some sort of demonic force, though whether her aims were to summon a creature, become a devil, or both was unclear. The next step of her plan: offer Sandpoint and all the people in it as a burnt sacrifice to her dark goddess. The purpose of the Pandemonium soldiers' presence in this rural coastal village had become very clear. The four somberly spoke to Mother Zantis, ensuring Ameiko's stability and safety, before heading out once more towards the glassworks. Category:Rise of the Runelords